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The Compact Bedford Introduction to Literatureis a best-seller for a reason: it brings literature to life for students -- helping to make them lifelong readers and better writers. Classic works from many periods and cultures exist alongside a diverse representation of today's authors. Support for students includes a dozen chapters of critical reading and writing, with plenty of sample close readings, writing assignments, and student papers. And, because everyone teaches a little differently, there are lots of options for working with the literature, including in-depth chapters on major authors and case studies on individual works and themes that everyone can relate to. New to this edition are casebooks on short fiction and the natural world and a chapter created with Billy Collins.

MICHAEL MEYER (Ph.D., University of Connecticut) has taught writing and literature courses for more than 30 years -- since 1981 at the University of Connecticut and before that at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and the College of William and Mary. His scholarly articles have appeared in distinguished journals such as American Literature, Studies in the American Renaissance, and Virginia Quarterly Review. An internationally recognized authority on Henry David Thoreau, Meyer is a former president of the Thoreau Society and coauthor (with Walter Harding) of The New Thoreau Handbook, a standard reference source. His other books for Bedford/St. Martin's include Literature to Go (2011); The Bedford Introduction to Literature (2011); Poetry: An Introduction (2010); and Thinking and Writing about Literature (2001).

Resources for Reading and Writing about Literature Preface for Instructors Introduction: Reading Imaginative LiteratureThe Nature of Literature Emily Dickinson, A Narrow Fellow in the GrassThe Value of Literature The Changing Literary Canon FICTION THE ELEMENTS OF FICTION1. Reading FictionReading Fiction Responsively Kate Chopin, The Story of an Hour A SAMPLE CLOSE READING: An Annotated Section of Kate Chopin's “The Story of an Hour” A SAMPLE PAPER: Differences in Responses to Kate Chopin's “The Story of an Hour” Explorations and Formulas A Comparison of Two Stories Karen van der Zee, From A Secret Sorrow Gail Godwin, A Sorrowful Woman PERSPECTIVES Kay Mussell, Are Feminism and Romance Novels Mutually Exclusive? Thomas Jefferson, On the Dangers of Reading Fiction Encountering Fiction: Comics and Graphic Stories* Gene Luen Yang, From American Born Chinese 2. Writing about Fiction From Reading to Writing QUESTIONS FOR RESPONSIVE READING AND WRITING A SAMPLE PAPER IN PROGRESS A First Response to A Secret Sorrow and “A Sorrowful Woman” A Sample Brainstorming ListA Sample First Draft: Separate Sorrows A Sample Second Draft: Separate Sorrows Final Paper: Ful?llment or Failure? Marriage in A Secret Sorrow and “A Sorrowful Woman” 3. Plot Edgar Rice Burroughs, From Tarzan of the Apes * Alice Walker, The Flowers William Faulkner, A Rose for Emily PERSPECTIVE: William Faulkner, On “A Rose for Emily” A SAMPLE CLOSE READING: An Annotated Section of William Faulkner's “A Rose for Emily” A SAMPLE STUDENT RESPONSE: Con?ict in the Plot of William Faulkner's “A Rose for Emily” Andre Dubus, Killings PERSPECTIVE: A. L. Bader, Nothing Happens in Modern Short Stories Encountering Fiction: Comics and Graphic Stories * Edward Gorey, From The Hapless Child 4. Character Charles Dickens, From Hard Times A SAMPLE STUDENT RESPONSE: Character Development in Charles Dickens's Hard Times Herman Melville, Bartleby, the Scrivener PERSPECTIVES Nathaniel Hawthorne, On Herman Melville's Philosophic Stance Dan McCall, On the Lawyer's Character in “Bartleby, the Scrivener” * Junot Diaz, Fiesta, 1980Encountering Fiction: Comics and Graphic Stories * Lynda Barry, Spelling 5. Setting Ernest Hemingway, Soldier's Home PERSPECTIVE: Ernest Hemingway, On What Every Writer Needs Fay Weldon, IND AFF, or Out of Love in Sarajevo PERSPECTIVE: Fay Weldon, On the Importance of Place in “IND AFF” A SAMPLE STUDENT RESPONSE: The Signi?cance of Setting in Fay Weldon's “IND AFF”

6. Point of ViewThird-Person Narrator First-Person Narrator * Robert Olen Butler, Jealous Husband Returns in Form of Parrot Anton Chekhov, The Lady with the Pet Dog PERSPECTIVES: Two Additional Translations of the Final Paragraphs of Anton Chekhov's “The Lady with the Pet Dog” Anton Chekhov, From “The Lady and the Dog” Anton Chekhov, From “A Lady with a Dog” PERSPECTIVE: Anton Chekhov, On Morality in Fiction Joyce Carol Oates, The Lady with the Pet Dog PERSPECTIVE: Matthew C. Brennan, Point of View and Plotting in Chekhov's and Oates's “The Lady with the Pet Dog” A SAMPLE STUDENT RESPONSE: Two Versions of the Same Story: Point of View in Chekhov's and Oates's “The Lady with the Pet Dog” Encountering Fiction: Comics and Graphic Stories * Marjane Satrapi, “The Trip,” From Persepolis 7. Symbolism Colette, The Hand Ralph Ellison, Battle Royal PERSPECTIVE: Mordecai Marcus, What Is an Initiation Story? A SAMPLE CLOSE READING: An Annotated Section of Ralph Ellison's “Battle Royal” A SAMPLE STUDENT RESPONSE: Symbolism in Ralph Ellison's “Battle Royal” * Michael Oppenheimer, The Paring Knife 8. Theme Stephen Crane, The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky Katherine Mansfield, Miss Brill Dagoberto Gilb, Love in L.A. A SAMPLE STUDENT RESPONSE: The Theme of Deception in Dagoberto Gilb's “Love in L.A.” 9. Style, Tone, and IronyStyle Tone Irony Raymond Carver, Popular Mechanics A SAMPLE STUDENT RESPONSE: The Terse Style of Raymond Carver's “Popular Mechanics” Susan Minot, Lust Tim O'Brien, How to Tell a True War Story * Rick Moody, BoysEncountering Fiction: Comics and Graphic Stories * Matt Groening, Life in Hell 10. Combining the Elements of Fiction: A Writing ProcessThe Elements Together Mapping the Story David Updike, Summer QUESTIONS FOR WRITING: DEVELOPING A TOPIC INTO A REVISED THESIS A Sample Brainstorming List A Sample First Thesis A Sample Revised Thesis A SAMPLE STUDENT RESPONSE: Plot and Setting in David Updike's “Summer” Approaches to Fiction 11. A Study of Nathaniel HawthorneA Brief Biography and Introduction Nathaniel Hawthorne, Young Goodman Brown Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Minister's Black Veil Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Birthmark PERSPECTIVES ON HAWTHORNE Nathaniel Hawthorne, On Solitude Nathaniel Hawthorne, On the Power of the Writer's Imagination Nathaniel Hawthorne, On His Short Stories Herman Melville, On Nathaniel Hawthorne's Tragic Vision Gaylord Brewer, “The Joys of Secret Sin” 12. A Study of Flannery O'ConnorA Brief Biography and Introduction Flannery O'Connor, A Good Man Is Hard to Find Flannery O'Connor, Good Country People Flannery O'Connor, Revelation PERSPECTIVES ON O'CONNOR Flannery O'Connor, On Faith Flannery O'Connor, On the Materials of Fiction Flannery O'Connor, On the Use of Exaggeration and Distortion Flannery O'Connor, On Theme and Symbol Josephine Hendin, On O'Connor's Refusal to “Do Pretty” Claire Kahane, The Function of Violence in O'Connor's Fiction Edward Kessler, On O'Connor's Use of History TIME Magazine, On “A Good Man is Hard to Find” * 13. A Cultural Case Study: James Joyce's “Eveline”* A Brief Biography and Introduction * James Joyce, Eveline* Documents * The Alliance Temperance Almanack, On the Resources of Ireland * Bridget Burke, A Letter Home from an Irish Emigrant* A Plot Synopsis of The Bohemian Girl 14. A Thematic Case Study: The Literature of the South map: U.S. Bureau of the Census, “The South” essay: John Shelton Reed and Dale Volberg Reed, Definitions of the South essay: W. J. Cash, The Old and the New South movie still: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Gone with the Wind etching: Currier and Ives, The Old Plantation Home essay: Irving Howe, The Southern Myth painting: John Richards, The Battle of Gettysburg, 1863 essay: Flannery O'Connor, The Regional Writer painting: Clyde Broadway, Trinity - Elvis, Jesus, and Robert E. Lee photo: Ernest C. Withers, “Bus Station, Colored Waiting Room, Memphis, Tennessee” essay: Margaret Walker, The Southern Writer and Race photo: Library of Congress, Elizabeth Eckford at Little Rock Central High School photo: Ernest C. Withers, “Sanitation Workers' Strike, Memphis, Tennessee” collage: Romare Bearden, Watching the Good Trains Go By essay: Donald R. Noble, The Future of Southern Writing essay: Lee Smith, On Southern Change and Permanence 15. A Thematic Case Study: Humor and Satire E. Annie Proulx, 55 Miles to the Gas Pump T. Coraghessan Boyle, Carnal Knowledge * Ron Hansen, My Kid's Dog * Joyce Carol Oates, Hi Howya Doin' Mark Twain, The Story of the Good Little Boy * 16. Remarkably Short-Short Stories * Ron Carlson, Max * Mark Halliday, Young Man on Sixth Ave * David Foster Wallace, Incarnations of Burned Children * Lydia Davis, Letter to a Funeral Parlor Peter Meinke, The Cranes * Terry L. Tilton, That Settles That A Collection of Stories17. An Album of Contemporary Stories Amy Bloom, By-and-by * John Updike, Outage * Xu Xi, Famine 18. Stories for Further Reading Jamaica Kincaid, Girl * Jack London, To Build a Fire * Katherine Mansfield, The Fly Edgar Allan Poe, The Cask of Amontillado Katherine Anne Porter, The Witness John Updike, A & P POETRY THE ELEMENTS OF POETRY

22. ImagesPoetry's Appeal to the Senses William Carlos Williams, Poem Walt Whitman, Cavalry Crossing a Ford David Solway, Windsurfing Theodore Roethke, Root Cellar Matthew Arnold, Dover Beach Jimmy Santiago Baca, Green ChilePoems for Further Study Amy Lowell, The Pond * Ruth Fainlight, Crocuses Mary Robinson, London's Summer Morning William Blake, London A SAMPLE STUDENT RESPONSE: Imagery in William Blake's “London” and Mary Robinson's “London's Summer Morning” Wilfred Owen, Dulce et Decorum Est Rainer Maria Rilke, The Panther * Donna Masini, Slowly Sally Croft, Home-Baked Bread John Keats, To Autumn * C.K. Williams, Shock Ezra Pound, In a Station of the Metro * Cathy Song, The White Porch PERSPECTIVE: T. E. Hulme, On the Differences between Poetry and Prose 23. Figures of Speech William Shakespeare, From Macbeth (Act V, Scene V) Simile and Metaphor Margaret Atwood, you fit into me Emily Dickinson, Presentiment-is that long Shadow-on the lawn- Anne Bradstreet, The Author to Her Book * Jay Rogoff, Death's TheatreOther Figures Edmund Conti, Pragmatist Dylan Thomas, The Hand That Signed the Paper Janice Townley Moore, To a Wasp J. Patrick Lewis, The Unkindest Cut Poems for Further Study Gary Snyder, How Poetry Comes to MeA SAMPLE STUDENT RESPONSE: Metaphor in Gary Snyder's “How Poetry Comes to Me” Margaret Atwood, February William Carlos Williams, To Waken an Old Lady Ernest Slyman, Lightning Bugs Judy Page Heitzman, The Schoolroom on the Second Floor of the Knitting Mill William Wordsworth, London, 1802 Jim Stevens, Schizophrenia * Walt Whitman, A Noiseless Patient Spider John Donne, A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning Linda Pastan, Marks * Kay Ryan, Hailstorm * Elaine Magarrell, The Joy of Cooking Ruth Fainlight, The Clarinettist PERSPECTIVE: John R. Searle, Figuring Out Metaphors 24. Symbol, Allegory, and IronySymbol Robert Frost, Acquainted with the Night Allegory Edgar Allan Poe, The Haunted Palace Irony Edwin Arlington Robinson, Richard CoryA SAMPLE STUDENT RESPONSE: Irony in Edwin Arlington Robinson's “Richard Cory” Kenneth Fearing, AD E. E. Cummings, next to of course god america i Stephen Crane, A Man Said to the Universe Poems for Further Study Bob Hicok, Making it in Poetry Jane Kenyon, Surprise Martín Espada, Bully * Kevin Pierce, Proof of Origin Carl Sandburg, Buttons Wallace Stevens, Anecdote of the Jar * May Swenson, All That Time William Stafford, Traveling through the Dark Julio Marzán, Ethnic Poetry Mark Halliday, Graded Paper * Charles Simic, The Storm James Merrill, Casual Wear Henry Reed, Naming of Parts Rachel Hadas, The Compact * Bruce Weigl, Snowy Egret Robert Browning, My Last Duchess William Blake, The Chimney Sweeper PERSPECTIVE: Ezra Pound, On Symbols 25. SoundsListening to Poetry Anonymous, Scarborough Fair John Updike, Player Piano May Swenson, A Nosty Fright Emily Dickinson, A Bird came down the Walk- A SAMPLE STUDENT RESPONSE: Sound in Emily Dickinson's “A Bird came down the Walk-” Galway Kinnell, Blackberry Eating Rhyme Richard Armour, Going to Extremes Robert Southey, From “The Cataract of Lodore” PERSPECTIVE: David Lenson, On the Contemporary Use of Rhyme Sound and Meaning Gerard Manley Hopkins, God's Grandeur Poems for Further Study * Molly Peacock, Of Night Lewis Carroll (Charles Lutwidge Dodgson), Jabberwocky * Harryette Mullen, Blah-Blah William Heyen, The Trains John Donne, Song Alexander Pope, From An Essay on Criticism Haki R. Madhbuti, The B Network * Andrew Hudgins, The Cow Paul Humphrey, Blow Robert Francis, The Pitcher Helen Chasin, The Word Plum * Richard Wakefield, The Bell Rope * John Keats, Ode to a Nightingale 26. Patterns of RhythmSome Principles of Meter Walt Whitman, From “Song of the Open Road” William Wordsworth, My Heart Leaps Up SUGGESTIONS FOR SCANNING A POEM Timothy Steele, Waiting for the Storm A SAMPLE STUDENT RESPONSE: The Rhythm of Anticipation in Timothy Steele's “Waiting for the Storm” William Butler Yeats, That the Night ComePoems for Further Study * Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Break, Break, Break Alice Jones, The Foot A. E. Housman, When I was one-and-twenty Rita Dove, Fox Trot Fridays Robert Herrick, Delight in Disorder Ben Jonson, Still to Be Neat * Sonia Sanchez, Summer Words of a Sistuh Addict William Blake, The Lamb William Blake, The Tyger Carl Sandburg, Chicago * Mark Doty, Tunnel Music * Mark Turpin, Sledgehammer's Song Alfred, Lord Tennyson, The Charge of the Light Brigade Theodore Roethke, My Papa's Waltz PERSPECTIVE: Louise Bogan, On Formal Poetry 27. Poetic FormsSome Common Poetic Forms A. E. Housman, Loveliest of trees, the cherry now Robert Herrick, Upon Julia's Clothes Sonnet John Keats, On First Looking into Chapman's Homer William Wordsworth, The World Is Too Much with Us William Shakespeare, Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? William Shakespeare, My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun Edna St. Vincent Millay, I will put Chaos into fourteen lines A SAMPLE STUDENT RESPONSE: The Fixed Form in Edna St. Vincent Millay's “I will put Chaos into fourteen lines” Molly Peacock, Desire Mark Jarman, Unholy Sonnet * X.J. Kennedy, “The Purpose of Time is to Prevent Everything from Happening at Once” * Jim Tilley, BoysVillanelle Dylan Thomas, Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night Wendy Cope, Lonely HeartsSestina Algernon Charles Swinburne, Sestina Florence Cassen Mayers, All-American SestinaEpigram Samuel Taylor Coleridge, What Is an Epigram? A. R. Ammons, Coward David McCord, Epitaph on a Waiter Paul Lawrence Dunbar, TheologyLimerick Anonymous, There was a young lady named Bright Laurence Perrine, The limerick's never averse Haiku Matsuo Bash_, Under cherry trees Carolyn Kizer, After Bash_ Sonia Sanchez, c'mon man hold meElegy Theodore Roethke, Elegy for Jane * Brendan Galvin, An Evel Knievel Elegy Ode Percy Bysshe Shelley, Ode to the West Wind * Baron Wormser, LaborPicture Poem Michael McFee, In Medias ResParody Blanche Farley, The Lover Not Taken PERSPECTIVE: Elaine Mitchell, Form 28. Open Form E. E. Cummings, in Just- Walt Whitman, From “I Sing the Body Electric” PERSPECTIVE: Walt Whitman, On Rhyme and Meter A SAMPLE STUDENT RESPONSE: The Power of Walt Whitman's Open Form Poem “I Sing the Body Electric” Louis Jenkins, The Prose Poem Richard Hague, Directions for Resisting the SAT Galway Kinnell, After Making Love We Hear Footsteps Kelly Cherry, Alzheimer's William Carlos Williams, The Red Wheelbarrow Marilyn Nelson Waniek, Emily Dickinson's Defunct * Jeffrey Harrison, The Names of Things Julio Marzán, The Translator at the Reception for Latin American Writers * Todd Boss, Advance Anonymous, The Frog Tato Laviera, AmeRícan Peter Meinke, The ABC of Aerobics * Sandra M. Gilbert, ChairliftFound Poem Donald Justice, Order in the Streets 29. Combining the Elements of Poetry: A Writing Process The Elements Together Mapping the Poem John Donne, Death Be Not ProudAsking Questions about the Elements A SAMPLE CLOSE READING: An Annotated Version of John Donne's “Death Be Not Proud”A SAMPLE FIRST RESPONSE Organizing Your Thoughts A SAMPLE INFORMAL OUTLINE The Elements and Theme A SAMPLE EXPLICATION: The Use of Conventional Metaphors for Death in John Donne's “Death Be Not Proud”Approaches to Poetry 30. A Study of Emily DickinsonA Brief Biography An Introduction to Her Work Emily Dickinson If I can stop one Heart from breaking If I shouldn't be alive The Thought beneath so slight a film- To make a prairie it takes a clover and one bee Success is counted sweetest * Some things that fly there be Water, is taught by thirst Safe in their Alabaster Chambers-(1859 version) Safe in their Alabaster Chambers-(1861 version) Portraits are to daily faces * My Life had stood-a Loaded Gun Some keep the Sabbath going to Church- “Heaven”-is what I cannot reach! “Hope” is the thing with feathers * The Robin's my Criterion for Tune- * I started Early-Took my Dog I like a look of Agony Wild Nights-Wild Nights! What Soft-Cherubic Creatures- The Soul selects her own Society- Much Madness is divinest Sense- I dwell in Possibility- They dropped like Flakes- After great pain, a formal feeling comes- * Pain-has an Element of Blank- * The Morning after Wo- I heard a Fly buzz-when I died- Because I could not stop for Death- * He fumbles at your Soul I felt a Cleaving in my Mind- * I felt a Funeral in my Brain A Light exists in Spring The Bustle in a House Tell all the Truth but tell it slant- There is no Frigate like a Book * Fame is the one that does not stay-PERSPECTIVES ON EMILY DICKINSON Emily Dickinson, A Description of Herself Thomas Wentworth Higginson, On Meeting Dickinson for the First Time Mabel Loomis Todd, The Character of Amherst Richard Wilbur, On Dickinson's Sense of Privation Sandra M. Gilbert and Susan Gubar, On Dickinson's White Dress Cynthia Griffin Wolff, On the Many Voices in Dickinson's Poetry Paula Bennett, On “I heard a Fly buzz-when I died-” Martha Nell Smith, On “Because I could not stop for Death-” QUESTIONS FOR WRITING ABOUT AN AUTHOR IN DEPTH A Sample In-Depth Study: Four Poems by Emily Dickinson Emily Dickinson “Faith” is a fine invention I know that He exists I never saw a Moor- Apparently with no surprise A SAMPLE STUDENT PAPER: Religious Faith in Four Poems by Emily Dickinson 31. A Study of Robert FrostA Brief Biography An Introduction to His Work Robert Frost The Road Not Taken The Pasture Mowing My November Guest Storm Fear Mending Wall Home Burial * The Wood-pile After Apple-Picking Birches * An Old Man's Winter Night “Out, Out-” * The Oven Bird Fire and Ice Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening Nothing Gold Can Stay Unharvested Neither Out Far nor In Deep Design PERSPECTIVES ON ROBERT FROST Robert Frost, “In White,” An Early Version of “Design” Robert Frost, On the Living Part of a Poem Amy Lowell, On Frost's Realistic Technique Robert Frost, On the Figure a Poem Makes Robert Frost, On the Way to Read a Poem Herbert R. Coursen Jr., A Parodic Interpretation of “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” 32. A Study of Langston HughesA Brief Biography Langston HughesThe Negro Speaks of Rivers An Introduction to His Work I, Too Negro Danse Africaine Dream Variations Formula Esthete in Harlem Lenox Avenue: Midnight Song for a Dark Girl Red Silk Stockings Rent-Party Shout: For a Lady Dancer * 50-50 125th Street dream Boogie Harlem * Motto Old Walt * High to LowPERSPECTIVES ON LANGSTON HUGHES Langston Hughes, On Harlem Rent Parties James E. Emanuel, Hughes's Attitudes toward Religion David Chinitz, The Romanticization of Africa in the 1920s